Business Management to Head of Marketing

We caught up with Neil Dagger who studied Business Management with Marketing in 1985. He’s now working as Head of Marketing, Planning, Insight and Analysis at Nominet.

“I can tell you that I only have happy memories of my time at Brighton. The course was excellent as were all the tutors, from the legendary Mike Barber who sustained our legal requirements, to the Freudianesque Dr Abrahams, Psychology.

The post-grad options were also hugely valuable (I took the MRS and the CIM); these proved useful bedrocks over the years that followed, in fact they even inspired me to take the Post-Grad IDM Diploma in Direct and Digital Marketing in 2018 which I just passed with Merit. A useful refresher as marketing reinvents itself every 20 minutes.

So what have I been doing since revising on the uncomfortably pebbly beach?

Brief stint with a London Ad agency, 12 years with the worlds No1 PC company Compaq Computer and another 10 with HP, in all manner of Product Management & Channel Marketing roles taking numerous products to No1 market share position in the UK. Six years with a large British scientific company as Global Marketing Manager managing a team spread across US, China, India, Singapore and Germany and a few in UK.

Most recently working for Nominet, who manage the UK internet, keeping us all secure online and managing the .co.uk namespace. We help starts ups and would be entrepreneurs get online and grow online. See our website for students and start ups: www.theukdomain.uk

I work with government departments (and regional LEPs) to help stimulate digital skills in the start up community and we advise students who wish to start businesses, through our website that provides free expert advice to small businesses who don’t know how to get online. This work advising students and start ups is what made me think about what might be of interest to business faculty students.

I don’t think a day goes by where I don’t dip into some of the knowledge acquired from my degree at Brighton, even subconsciously. Its an attitude you learn. A way to view a problem or challenge and the belief that nothing cannot be solved. In my role as Head of Marketing at Nominet, every day we consider digital marketing challenges and opportunities, we come up with solutions and test them, then measure results, change a variable and test again. Everything is measured, tested, analysed and optimised. The foundations all put in place during my time at Brighton. So undoubtedly my degree has been invaluable.

Most cherished memory – my time at Falmer halls of residence

Tip for students: if you wait until your business idea is fully ready, you’ll be too late. Launch, refine and improve. Get online and embrace the digital marketing world. Much of it is free and these days you need to be visible online or be invisible.

Our brightest job applicants even have their CV online!”

Do you have a story to share? We love to publish profiles of our successful graduates to inspire students and more recent grads. Get in touch to share yours alumni@brighton.ac.uk.